Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/256

FAIR JCXJKEYIHG OF INDIANS. 241 »lie;lr or platted grass twelve to fifteen inches in length is held between them, each grasping an end, so as to readily indicate when one or the other is gain- ing undue advantsi^ in speed from the standing pc4nt to the scratch when the race is actually to b^n. In starting, the racers step off briskly, at once beginning a gentle trot, which increases in speed as they ap- proach tiie scratch, though they endeavor to keep abreast and stance at ^e stick or wisps held by tiie men on each side. "When the true starting paint is retbched, the sticks are dropped and ill start forwaird at nearly racing pace from the very first. And if they had stop-watches, it would have been recorded — "Time: 10 seconds. " This race is a record-breaker, for it beats the time recorded a half second. For the sake of computation call it 100 yards in ten seconds^ that would be 600 yards in a minute, and on that basis would amount to 36,000 yards per hour, or over twenty miles, so when it was stated that Ysopete made ten miles in thirty-five minutes vou can readily see its possibility. , -* - -»h». For deviation, the medical magicians now give an exhibition of their wlzardness. These performers are the medicine men of the various tribes present; they occupied over an hour in the rendition of the tricks. Of course, it would take too long to give a full account, but here is one performance which merits a write-up, as the newspaper men say. ,% In the first place, it would be much more compre- hensive were it possible to demonstrate the jugglery by the insertion of "Fig. 20" in the work so frequently quoted. The Tshesaqkan is composed of four upright